Combination Keys

[Lanx]

So by happenchance, my shift (which is really delete) on my kinesis was wigging out so i went to get a cherry replacement. My current kinesis is A-Z is ergo whites and less used keys 0-9 etc are browns. I could only find a spare blue so, what the heck. easy swap and now i click whenever i need to shift (mostly just capitalize) a word. So i think i'll do this for all my combination keys ctrl/alt

usually i would bottom out to make sure i'm "shifting" (you know for passwords and such) but this is cool tool, too bad i really hate the the mx blues clicky sound. (compared to a real BS that is)

[islisis]

do you only use one shift key?

i would be careful putting in a high force modifier switch for single hand chords. muscles are at their weakest when extended and could be become stressed without realising it

that key (del) is one of my main layer mods as well. i currently have a red in there and it's low force enough to always activate without bottoming out. i want to replace all of my thumb mods eventually with browns modified for lower force.

how did you go about replacing the finger board switches with whites?

[jacobolus]

i would be careful putting in a high force modifier switch for single hand chords.

MX blue is not high force...

[islisis]

true, i think a little high for a major mod key

[Lanx]

i desoldered the main keys popped out the brown stem and popped in whites and resoldered. yea i only have left shift, but imo it doesn't have any consequence since the thumb cluster is all combination keys anyway.

yea i remapped delete to shift, not through the keyboard layer, but i hard wired it, reason, it didn't work so that was the easiest way. i then hard wired right ctrl to be delete, why 2 ctrls anyway?

also blue force is the same as brown force, doesn't get lower really.

[islisis]

ah thanks, i see!

well i use the delete key for single hand combinations a lot, but recently (after years of using del and then adding dual role mods to all of the thumb keys) found how much strain this actually produces at stretched positions when used for extended amounts of time... so it forced me to rethink things (i think changing hand positions for each thumb key is a possible solution)

it's just my experience that the less force the better... i read blue is higher than brown about 10%, but anyhow it seems possible to reduce the force by filing down the tactile contact

[Melvang]

Only looking at the springs, reds, browns, and blues are identical.  When you factor in the stem and the extra friction the bump in the stem adds to the equation blues are very slightly heavier at activation than browns and again reds but bottom out force is still the same.

[Lanx]

ah thanks, i see!

well i use the delete key for single hand combinations a lot, but recently (after years of using del and then adding dual role mods to all of the thumb keys) found how much strain this actually produces at stretched positions when used for extended amounts of time... so it forced me to rethink things (i think changing hand positions for each thumb key is a possible solution)

it's just my experience that the less force the better... i read blue is higher than brown about 10%, but anyhow it seems possible to reduce the force by filing down the tactile contact

maybe you were bottoming out and just didn't know it, i actually believe i put less force into my shift key now that i also have the audio click (my board is silent otherwise), i mean our thumbs are strong, it's the reason we associate "thwak!!!" with thumb and spacebar.

[islisis]

for sure thumbs are stronger, and the best candidate for mod keys. but they are still susceptable to strain when used repeatedly and in stretched positions. others described their experience with ergodox thumb keys in a recent thread. that's why i map symmetrical dual role home/pgup thumb shifts since typing uses both hands. as with twaking the spacebar, more power is available from the arm when the hand is not forced into a fixed position.

when mousing etc. single hand combinations are a major convenience, which is why i wish to reduce the force as much as possible.

and no for short presses i avoid bottoming out like the plague >_<